Found opportunity. Clever thinking led to carving out shallow niches beneath this window. The shelves don’t take up any room in this cozy master suite, and the addition of a chair and lamp turns this corner into a mini library. One box, three ways. Stacked colorful crates provide flexible storage for this nursery. As the child grows, they can be rearranged, upended to use as a small table, or flipped to use as a basket.

Leave some open space. Rather than filling her shelves with books, L.A. designer Kelly LaPlante left room for shapely objects and empty space to create a pretty display. "I first visually balance the case as a whole," she says. "Then I arrange the contents of each shelf."

More than books. The key to beautifully arranged shelves is variety. Fill some shelves with books (don’t forget to switch between lining them up and stacking them) and fill the rest with art, objects, and houseplants. Focus on letting each collection of items tell a story—the baskets you picked up on your latest trip to Mexico, or your love of black and white historical photos.